(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle floor production system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a vehicle floor production system, in which a working line is disposed at the bottom of the system and a return line is disposed at the top so as to ensure safety and working space.
(b) Background Art
As shown in exemplary FIG. 1, a conventional front floor 100 forming an engine room 101 of a vehicle in general includes a dash panel 110, left and right fender apron members 112 and 113, and a radiator support member 114. The dash panel 110 serves as a partition between the engine room and a passenger room and prevents noise and vibration from being introduced into the passenger room. The left and right fender apron members 112 and 113 are butt-welded at predetermined regions of left and right sides of the dash panel 110 so that the front portions thereof extend toward the vehicle front. Accordingly, the left and right fender apron members 112 and 113 support left and right side portions of the engine and a transmission and fix the upper part of a strut of a front suspension. Both side portions of the radiator support member 114 are butt-welded to the front surfaces of the left and right fender apron members 112 and 113 so as to support the structure of a cooling system including an air conditioner and a radiator.
The above-described panel and members (hereinafter referred to as a panel) are welded to each other to form the front floor 100.
Exemplary FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional front floor production system which generally comprises a linear motor 121, a stopper 122, a carrier 123, a turntable 124, a welding robot 125, and an unloading robot 126.
In the conventional front floor production system, the carrier 123 that restricts the panel is moved using the linear motor 121 in a non-contact manner and is rotated by the turntable 124 in a welding process. After completion of the welding process, the panel is unloaded from the carrier 123 by the unloading robot 126 and transferred to the following line. Accordingly, the stopper 122 stops the carrier 123 at a desired position during transfer to the following line, thus regulating the position of the carrier 123.
The operation order of the system having the above-described configuration is described below.
(1) The panel is loaded on the carrier 123 in process-A, and the carrier 123 is transferred to process-B.
(2) When the turntable 124 is rotated, the carrier in process-B is transferred to process-C and subjected to the welding process, and the carrier 123 of process-C is returned to process-B so that the unloading robot 126 unloads the panel from the carrier 123.
(3) The carrier 123 of process-D is transferred to process-A so that another panel is loaded thereon.
(4) The carrier 123 of process-B after completion of unloading is transferred to process-D to stand by.
In the conventional linear motor, since the number of the linear motors is large, the manufacturing cost is suitably increased and, since the capacity of inverters for controlling the motors is increased, the manufacturing cost is further increased and the size of a control panel that is needed is thus increased. Accordingly, with the increase in the control panel, the installation area is also increased.
Moreover, in the case of an inverter-type linear motor, a stopper is needed during stop, and an impact absorbing means is used to reduce impact force during stop, which is consumable and unfavorable for preservation, and thus causes a cost increase.
Furthermore, since the linear motor is driven in a non-contact manner, an error in speed control frequently occurs and, in order to maintain a gap between the linear motor and the carrier, the manufacturing and assembling costs are increased.
In addition, because a process has to be added every time a vehicle type is added, the system operation is restrictive, and the manufacturing cost of the turntable is high.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.